The macOS system must enforce session lock no more than five seconds after screen saver is started.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-277030 | SRG-OS-000028-GPOS-00009 | APPL-26-000003 | SV-277030r1148542_rule | 2026-02-11 | 1 |
Description
A screen saver must be enabled and the system must be configured to require a password to unlock once the screen saver has been on for a maximum of five seconds.
An unattended system with an excessive grace period is vulnerable to a malicious user.
ℹ️ Check
Verify the macOS system is configured to initiate a session lock within five seconds of the screen saver starting with the following command:
/usr/bin/osascript -l JavaScript << EOS
function run() {
let delay = ObjC.unwrap($.NSUserDefaults.alloc.initWithSuiteName('com.apple.screensaver')\
.objectForKey('askForPasswordDelay'))
if ( delay <= 5 ) {
return("true")
} else {
return("false")
}
}
EOS
If the result is not "true", this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Configure the macOS system to initiate a session lock within five seconds of the screen saver starting by installing the "com.apple.screensaver" configuration profile.